Tinsley, JN;
Molodtsov, MI;
Prevedel, R;
Wartmann, D;
Espigulé-Pons, J;
Lauwers, M;
Vaziri, A;
(2016)
Direct detection of a single photon by humans.
Nature Communications
, 7
, Article 12172. 10.1038/ncomms12172.
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Abstract
Despite investigations for over 70 years, the absolute limits of human vision have remained unclear. Rod cells respond to individual photons, yet whether a single-photon incident on the eye can be perceived by a human subject has remained a fundamental open question. Here we report that humans can detect a single-photon incident on the cornea with a probability significantly above chance. This was achieved by implementing a combination of a psychophysics procedure with a quantum light source that can generate single-photon states of light. We further discover that the probability of reporting a single photon is modulated by the presence of an earlier photon, suggesting a priming process that temporarily enhances the effective gain of the visual system on the timescale of seconds.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Direct detection of a single photon by humans |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/ncomms12172 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12172 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10068491 |
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